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Aussie plebiscite on gay marriage fails


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​I could never be in favor of a poll on any issue of human rights. The fact that the Australian government even considered such a poll on gay marriage is shameful, but now it has been tossed out.

Of course if they return the issue to the elected officials it seems that any such law will contain the same poisonous amendments that we see here in U.S. state law. Granting exceptions for religion and businesses still divides the people and squashes human rights. I guess no cake for gay weddings will be on the Aussie agenda.

​I don't think any sane gay person wants a church wedding, although there are some denominations that approve and hold them. But playing the Jesus card in refusing services to men who want to marry men and women who marry women only stigmatizes religion further. When did religious belief become the excuse for trumping civil rights?

It probably won't stop with cake. Stores may refuse to sell underwear to gay couples, or garages refuse to make oil changes to a gay man's car. When this happens I would support the right of a gay plumber to refuse to fix a church's sewer line and let them drown in their own shite.

If the members of a church refuse service based upon sincere religious belief then I doubt if they will have any gay church members. Ignorance of Christian principals and the teachings of Jesus makes hypocrites of them all. Yes, let them drown in their own excrement.

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A little bit of background...

The plebiscite idea was put forward by the conservative members of the political party in power (Liberals in coalition with the Nationals) as a way of deferring the topic until after the federal election. It was originally put forward by the previous Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, who was very much against same-sex marriage. However, between that decision and the federal election, the Liberal party voted Tony Abbott out of his position of Prime Minister and put in Malcolm Turnbull (this is not an affront to democracy, as some American commentators said at the time, because the electorate don't vote for the Prime Minister -- they vote for a political party and the party always decides who is their leader).

Malcolm Turnbull replaced 'Toxic Tony' but he didn't have strong support from within his party. To keep power, and to give the party a chance of winning the upcoming federal election, he had to agree to keep most existing policies, including the plebiscite. This is despite Malcolm not only having previously made comments in favour of same-sex marriage. Indeed, his electorate in Sydney covers the major gay area of Darlinghurst. He was also the first Prime Minister to attend the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras parade (he had been attending for many years, but this year was the first time he did so as Prime Minister).

That's where the idea came from and why the idea was pushed, even though I'm sure the Prime Minister doesn't think it was a good idea -- he inherited it and couldn't get rid of it without putting himself out of a job. After the federal election, his coalition has a one seat majority, so any defections will mean he could lose power and be unable to pass legislation.

Regarding any possible future legislation, yes, there will be a religious exemption. That's the situation now -- churches have the capability of refusing to marry couples if they so wish. For example, Catholic churches refusing to marry divorcees, Orthodox churches refusing to marry couples unless both are Orthodox, etc. That's not new. However, I sincerely doubt that will extend to related industries being able to refuse service to gay couples.

Currently Malcolm Turnbull is refusing to say if he'll allow a vote on a same-sex marriage bill in parliament. To me, that's saying he wants to, but he's going to need to tread carefully to make it happen politically. One member of the National party has already said he'll withdraw from the coalition if there's a vote to legalise same-sex marriage without a plebiscite. If he carries out histhreat, the government's position is in jeopardy, though I suspect they'll simply continue as a minority government with the help of one or more of the independent/minor party members of parliament.

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